Oh Christmas Tree ....

We live in the heart of the tree growing capital of the western United States.  There is a lot of pressure to take advantage of the many cut-your-own tree farms. Trees at the farms are quite inexpensive and it is a unique experience to meander around a tree farm to find the perfect tree.  It kind of makes you think of sleigh rides in the snowfall and Rudolph and Santa and all that.  Well . . .. except for the fact that we generally get rain except of snow.  In 2010, when Brandon was home from college for Thanksgiving, we drove a few miles down the road to get our tree at one of these farms. Follow this link to the story.

I would have to say, though, that we are always kind of torn when it comes time to make the decision about artificial vs. real tree.

Real trees smell so good and feel very authentic and loyal to Washington/Oregon.  But, real trees tend to die quickly on us, despite our best efforts to keep them watered (and sometimes fall over and make a big mess).  And, they drop needles all over our books under the tree. And, the truth is that it's not that fun to look for a tree in the rain, trudging through the mud.  Oh, and Dan would want me to include the fact that kneeling in the mud, with rain coming down hard, trying to saw the trunk of our chosen tree is not very fun either. And then dragging it to the car in the rain.  And bringing it into the house in the rain.

On the other hand, artificial trees are consistently pretty, have branches that can be manipulated to hold ornaments better, and don't require a special trip in the rain.  Oh, and they don't topple over or dry out or drop needles on my books.  But, it does seem kind of silly to use an artificial tree when we literally live within 20 minutes of dozens of tree farms. And the Costco artificial tree we bought eons ago is looking pretty sad and has approached the end of its natural life. About half the pre-lit lights don't light anymore, and it has to be wired together at certain junctures.  Dan actually refused to put it together again this year.

So, we made the bold move to go for the real tree again. This was especially bold given the fact that Dan and I both got sick with a bad cold shortly after Thanksgiving, and we were pretty miserable during the tree acquisition process.  We decided to go for it  halfway - real fresh-cut tree purchased from a tree lot.

Near Joseph's school is a super cute store called the "Felida Red Barn."  It is an old red barn converted to a charming gift shop.  And I noticed that they had a small tree lot there.  So, the first Monday in December we loaded up the family, donned our Santa hats, and headed to the tree lot at the Red Barn.  It was perfectly charming! We stopped first to get some photos:

 

 Getting Joseph to stay serious long enough for the picture is not an easy task . . .

 The tree lot had lovely trees, all freshly cut that morning.  We had a hard time deciding.

Aubrey liked this one:

Bailey liked this one:

And Joseph couldn't decide.

With a little negotiation, we gave the tree the "smell test" (for the record - it smelled heavenly)

 And then settled on the tree that Aubrey had chosen.

Now, the very best part.  Seriously the best part.

After buying the tree (and some scrumptious homemade kettle corn from the gift shop) we found out that part of the purchase price was free delivery and set up!!  And we didn't even know that when we chose this tree lot.

Oh, we were very, very happy, and after the tree was set up we took our sniffling selves to bed.  Over the next few days we decorated the tree, and I think it looks awesome!